Early voting for the Education SPLOST will begin Monday, Oct. 17 at the county administration building in the board of elections and registration office. Advance voting will continue until Nov. 4. Office hours for early voting will be 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:30-5 p.m.

Let me be the first to say NOT NO but H to the L NO, it may be for education but we will end up with more assistants to the assistants, fancy offices,more graduation counselors (haven't figured that one out) and other adminitrative jobs and fancy do nothing titles and the kids will get ZIP Zero. The teachers need latitudes to do their jobs, the STAFF and State need to get out of the way.

when a bunch of morons vote for a tax on something that they don't known nothing about, it seems that the tax always wins. stupid people feels that the splost tax is better than another tax that don't even exist yet. voting for a tax is stupid because once it starts it's almost impossible to kill. just take a look now. we have splost, esplost, and now tsplost. hopefully soon we can have msplost to pay medical bills for the stupid folks that vote for more taxes.

face the facts. not voting for this tax don't mean property taxes will increase. it just means this extended line of extra money is not available to use on wastful spending.

face more facts. those people that waste the tax payers money are elected officals. if they want to raise taxes let the people say no. if they don't listen, send them walking away from the political arena. give them the boot with a pink slip that says, terminated for the inability to listen and act on the peoples demands and wasteful spending of the taxpayers money. poor manager and poor elected offical.

stand up and be heard. stop caving in to political waste and wishful promises.

Building new schools - yes. Renovation of old schools - no. Millions of dollars are available through state channels for renovation projects. Building multi-million dollar football fields – waste, because it doesn’t benefit all students learning progress.

Abandonment of a specifically adopted SPLOST project, misuse of SPLOST funds, city/county/BOE swap transfers of property and SPLOST acquired property, sending SPLOST funds (400K) to the general fund while other SPLOST projects are ongoing – Illegal!

tell it like it is G-man!!keep taxing folks.keep increasing taxes.it doesn't matter if its splost,land,gas or what ever.it's still a TAX!!!!get rid of the clowns who decide where the tax money goes.get someone in there who is smart enough to stop wasting money.

Actually you are very wrong. You could not be more wrong. But then again, from your use of grammar, that is not surprising. A local option sales tax to help pay for certain things, be it new roads and sidewalks or for education, is paid for by EVERYBODY. If we do not have a SPLOST, then only the homeowners pay for everything. There needs to be money raised to pay for education, new roads, etc. This just makes EVERYONE share in it. If you are against that, then vote against the SPLOST. But realize that if you are a homeowner, well then you are going to be the one paying for it, and now you sir are the moron.

not hardly! you are the one obviously brainwashed into believing what you just said. are you really that ignorant? do you really think that if any splost is voted down that property taxes will automatically jump? get a clue mr/mrs too scared to identify yourself. to increase property taxes, it must first be added to the budget, then exposed to the people, then accepted by and voted for by elected officials. it's not an automatic thing. those elected officials are supposed to listen to the people; and if they don't we need to send them packing. simple enough. however, we have people like yourself, that automatically assume that property taxes will instantly jump if you don't bow down to government. are you to blind and stupid to understand that all our problems we have today were caused by too much government. government keeps asking for more and stupid people answer with; sure here's another penny for every dollar i spend: if you need another, don't hesitate to ask. sure enough, soon government will ask for another one and stupid people will step up to the plate with their offering. perhaps you have an endless supply of money coming in whereby if you run low you can ask for more from someone else and get it. however, most people i know are forced to live on the amount they have coming in, and lacking an ability to get money elsewhere when they run low. get the point! it's time government, including schools, learn that there is not a money tree growing out in the community and they need to do what everyone else does and be happy with what they get and learn to operate within that budget.

yes, i own property. however, i'm not afraid to tell government - NO! i'm not too afraid to tell government to develop a budget and live within that budget, eliminate credit, keep the people informed and abide by what we elected them for. i don't think any of us elect a person into office and give them a blank check to take with them.

here's a good place to start saving. tell the school board to cut their money from 200 to 100 for each meeting. tell the school board to eliminate the tax payer funded (supposly working) vacation each year that cost about 25K. tell the school board to cut the super's high salary back. tell them that state funds are available for renovations and esplost money is not needed for new structures.

i for one am sick and tired of supporting people that have zero common sense when it comes to spending my tax dollars. i'm all for telling them to properly manage or get out of the way. 2012 should be a wake-up year. if they like spending - send them home to spend their own money.

p.s. i know grammar very well. i just have to camouflage my post from time to time. and....

Dang! I tried to stay anonymous but you guessed it. Yes; Gifted is my name and Smarta$$ is my last name.

You on the other hand must be someone who will directly benefit from these political schemes. I'd bet your initials are D.A.

Now; go forth and preach your lies and propaganda to acquire a hefty following of stupid to follow you to the polls. I already know the outcome. People that have no business voting because they don’t understand what it is they are voting for will vote yes and it will be approved. Then those same people will sit back and complain about it until it is time to do it again. Stuck in the mud and spinning tires with nobody around to pull them out. Geez….it must be dark in there!

I never said it did. Do you know what that means? I only suggested ways for the BOE to save some money. Do you know what that means? Do I trust our local officials for the proper use of SPLOST funds? NO! - They have already proven to me that once they receive it, they will do as they please. Do you know what that means? Although it is obvious to me that you in some way stand to benefit from these funds don't mean I'm going to open up an lean your way just because you want me to. I'm all for shutting down your money pipeline and force you all to operate within means until you all can demonstrate the ability to use tax money efficiently. Why should you folks get a blank check to continue abusing money that you dupe people into believing that you are spending wisely? Do you know what that means? Am I fed up with people like you who are working hard to destroy a country? YES! Do you understand what that means?

I STAND TO BENEFIT BY HAVING EDUCATED CHILDREN. WHO ARE EDUCATED IN A SCHOOL THAT IS WELL MAINTAINED AND NOT FALLING APART AFTER A COUPLE YEARS. UPDATED SOFTWARE AND ELECTRONICS (MOST SCHOOLS COMPUTERS NEED TO BE UPDATED AND REPLACED). SECURITY DOORS AND CAMERAS NEED TO BE UPDATED. SOME SCHOOLS NEED LOTS OF WORK DEPENDING HOW OLD IT IS.

OPERATIONAL COST LIKE SALARIES AND HIRING MORE STAFF IS NOT COVERED BY EDUCATION SPLOST.

And the only people destroying this country(economy) are the rats on wallstreet.
Do you know what that is?
They are laughing at you while they sip their champagne in fine crystal, that you and middle class people paid for "gifted" one!

You are just uneducated about capatalism. You don't realize that you have the very same opportunity to climb the ladder to success. However, first you have to start climbing instead of waiting for a hand-out. Lastly, those wallstreet bums are actually paying for those handouts.

A tax is a burden laid upon individuals or property owners to support the government; exacted by legislative authority. A tax "is not a voluntary payment or donation. It is an enforced contribution and failure to pay is punishable by law.

An Education Special Purpose Location Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) allows local school districts the option to ask voters for the ability to levy and collect one percent sales and use tax to help fund school improvements and is enacted by local referendum. They can be used to pay for capital projects and retire debt, but cannot be used to pay maintenance and operating expenses, such as salaries, maintenance, supplies, and utilities.

The problem is not taxes; it is spending. Our present practice is to increase tax revenue to compensate for over spending which really only equals putting another log on the fire. Considering using the terms “used to” and “retire debt” in the same sentence is only an open invitation to continue to increase debt while imposing fear in property owners that if they don’t succumb and impose a special tax, they will be punished with the burden of higher property taxes. Therefore, a SPLOST of any type is only a plea to over spend and increase debt and scare property owners to pay for the over spending through fear.

Voters should manage their elected officials exactly how they manage their own bank accounts. Voters elect individuals to represent them as a whole and those elected officials are supposed to listen and act on the wishes of the voters. They are not elected to enter an office with a blank check offering free candy to everyone. Stop allowing excuses such as staying within the spirit of the law rather than standing on the principals as they are written and intended. The state just doesn’t have the resources to monitor local government to make sure that that operate under the law. As voters, that is our job. When we fail to do our job we have government run amok.

Bring spending under control and eliminate waste and overspending. Eliminate the debt and maintain a balanced budget. Then introduce the special projects by a referendum to levy a SPLOST and manage those SPLOST accounts legally under the law as it is written.

Tell'em like it is. Unfortunately, many here will not listen to you. I've preached this sermon myself and it has fallen on deaf ears. The blind sheep will continue to keep these taxes voted in for fear of it raising their taxes.

I don't think he said that property values go up or down according to SPLOST passing. He simply stated, and is correct that if special sales taxes are not passed periodically, then only homeowners pay for certain things. On that point he is correct. Now that doesn't mean it's a good idea to run out and blindly vote yes every time.

Did your property taxes go down after the last SPLOST was passed? Did your property taxes go down after the SPLOST before that one? NO...they didn't! In fact, taxes went up and even new fire fees were added. So the whole argument about property taxes going up if SPLOSTS are not passed is just a load of BS!

At what point will the BOE, county, state and federal government learn that the common hard working, middle class citizen has been taxed out the yang-yang. All this fluff is well and good when the working class can pay their bills and mortgages. We have bypassed vacations and home improvements in order to keep our heads above water and yet the government is constantly looking to squeeze every penny out of us. You can tell me it's fair. Fair is when the ones that get food stamps, medicaid, free lunches, subsidized housing after school care pull up their baggy pants and ladies pajamas are for sleeping not to wear to the grocery store and go to work and pay taxes. Then I'll contribute my penny to ESPLOST. Respectfull: one fed up taxpayer

It is time for the working tax payer to stand up and say "NO". If I am not mistaken was there not a SPLOST tax for a new Fire Station? What happen to that money? Why does the schools need more then one Principle and Assistant, my gosh when I went to school we always just had one! Wasteful spending is what they are doing, claiming that the money will be used for buildings, supplies, and who knows what else. Get rid of the useless paper weights and put that money to work. Enough is Enough!!!!

Why do schools need a principal and an assistant principal? The principal deals with all the important issues while the assistant principal deals with the behaviors problems of the school. If you would like to save money and eliminate that job title then discipline your kids at home! Honor starts at home.